The Christmas Bird Count pelagic trip run by Paul Guris and See Life Paulagics on January 2 produced excellent numbers of Dovekie, Razorbills, and Northern Gannets, as well as sightings of Black-Legged Kittiwake, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, and Great Cormorant.  Short -beaked common dolphin was also spotted surfacing through the whitecaps on this frigid winter boat trip.

The high number of Dovekies, aptly described by one passenger as "a black-and-white Nerf football with wings," were particularly impressive in light of their tiny stature amidst the rough seas of the open ocean.

"Surprisingly, we had a Dovekie fly right up to the boat while we were just four miles offshore, the closest I've ever had to one to land," said Guris, the founder of See Life Paulagics.  "When all the counting was done, we had found 75 dovekies, my highest count that close to shore."

 
Wild New Jersey's David Wheeler joined two dozen voyagers on the 80-foot Suzie Girl, which left out of Belmar at 8 AM and returned at 4:30 PM.

Paulagics' next two trips will be from Lewes, Delaware on February 7, and Belmar on February 8.  According to Guris, this is the time of the year when trips have "most consistently found good (and sometimes outrageous) numbers of Dovekies. It's also a good time for Common Murre, Razorbill, Fulmar, Kittiwake, and other winter seabirds."